


Numerus diebus

by JugiePhoenix



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Murphy the Lord of Sass, Not Beta Read, OFC - Freeform, Original Female Character - Freeform, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Prison Brutality, i don't know how to tag, or maybe not platonic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-12-25 14:18:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12037668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JugiePhoenix/pseuds/JugiePhoenix
Summary: Jenna had been stuck in the Skybox for longer than she'd like to admit. Most days she considered knocking a few guards out, marching up to the Council Chamber, and demanding they float her. It would save them time, money, and resources, everyone knew she wasn't getting off of her crime. More than once she'd wondered why they kept her around, but she didn't really want to find out. Unfortunately for her, she was about to.





	1. Bad Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Jenna had been stuck in the Skybox for longer than she'd like to admit. Most days she considered knocking a few guards out, marching up to the Council Chamber, and demanding they float her. It would save them time, money, and resources, everyone knew she wasn't getting off of her crime. More than once she'd wondered why they kept her around, but she didn't really want to find out. Unfortunately for her, she was about to.

Jenna had been stuck in the Skybox for longer than she'd like to admit. Most days she considered knocking a few guards out, marching up to the Council Chamber, and demanding they float her. It would save them time, money, and resources, everyone knew she wasn't getting off of her crime, yet still she remained living.

If it could be called living.

Currently her room was a claustrophobic box with barely enough space to turn around it without bumping into something or someone else. One bed - she was being generous with that word too - took up half of the room and the other bed filled the remaining space. The Skybox was also kept on a limited air supply, headaches followed her around like a shadow. She loathed it.

The Skybox. Watching people go out the door and never come back. Her dad. Jaha that refused to listen.

Despised them all, along with the Council that had locked her up. Only they, and a few select people in Engineering, knew why Jenna was in the Skybox and she intended to keep it that way.

She'd been there the longest of anyone. Most people could recall seeing her when they were brought in for the first time, simply because of how much she stuck out. Red hair was a rarity, in and of itself, but added with eyes that could stare into a soul and see everything, it was hard to miss her.

She kept mostly to herself, they would say. Only talking to a small group of boys and the girl they'd found in the floor. They didn't know who she was. She knew them. She knew names of people floated without a friend to miss them. Her penance, she supposed.

Jenna made a point to never show fear. Fear gave people power over her, and she wouldn't allow anyone to have power over her again. She never cried, refused to show pain - even when the guards were complete bastards. That didn't mean she ran from fights.

There wasn't a lot of time for prisoners to be with each other, but - excluding those in solitary - they got to associate during meal times and the brief recreational periods three times a week. They'd been banned from having those after a massive fight between the Guard and several unhappy campers. A number of sedation darts and stun batons later, recreation was canceled for the remainder of the month.

If there was anything Jenna hated, it was being confined to her room. She supposed she should be used to it at this point, after years of staring at the same four walls and finding nothing new. It didn't make boring grey walls any less boring.

Though she did have a bouncy ball now. Nicked off one of the Guard when he was handcuffing a particularly mouthy kid. It did make things a little more interesting than just sitting on her bed. Now she could sit on her bed and annoy her roommate.

A wiry girl from Agriculture who had issues with hoarding supplies. Her name was Candice or Caprice, something along those lines. Whatever her name was, she continued to glare at Jenna as the ball continued to hit the wall in a steady rhythm.

"Could you knock it off?" She finally snapped.

"No." Jenna replied, not looking up, firmly stuck in her contemplation of life.

Or the Hell that was her life. Yeah, Hell came closer than life did. Sixteen years old, one year and three months until her execution. Jenna was a dead girl walking, waiting for the guillotine to drop. Why not just get it over with? It was the question that surrounded her existence.

The two girls jumped violently as the door burst open unceremoniously. Two guards strolled in, stun batons at the ready.

"Prinsoners 245 and 160! Turn and face the wall!"

"I'm not meant to be floated for another year!" Agriculture girl shrieked as the guard yanked her into the hall. Jenna raised an eyebrow, but rolled off her pad and faced the wall, pausing only to throw the bouncy ball into a wall violently. It rocketed around the room and there was a girly yelp as it hit the guard behind her.

"You know," Jenna allowed herself to smirk as the guard pulled her left arm from her side. Jenna felt a piercing stab on her left wrist as a cold piece of metal was clasped on tightly. "I get that you guys mean business whenever you come in here, but what if I was naked or something? You need to learn how to knock."

The guard seemed to be controlling the urge to punch Jenna in the face and kept sending looks of frustration and exasperation to some unknown person on the ceiling.

"I mean," Jenna continued loudly as she was pulled out of her cell and pushed through the Skybox hallways with 99 other yelling teens, her voice barely discernible above the ruckus, "There's not privacy, no security." The guard's grip on her arm tightened, Jenna could practically feel his teeth grinding together and smiled at the petty action. "Although you could be a major perv that just wants to-"

A rod swept across the back of Jenna's head, giving her a shallow cut, but one that stung all the same. She sighed, giving the guard an unimpressed look, the stared at her beanie that lay on the floor.

"Could you pick that up, my hand are... well..." She held up her handcuffed wrists with a smirk.

The guard bent down with a huff of annoyance, snatched the beanie up, then slammed it on her head without preamble before continuing to push her along. Jenna felt a small pulse of pain as the beanie rubbed on the new cut, allowing a trickle of warm blood to seep down her hairline and neck, but she ignored the sting. Worse was in the past and could be to come after all.

The smack-happy guard handed Jenna off to another guard, probably overjoyed to be rid of her, the moment they stepped foot into Engineering. This guard pulled her with a tighter grip into a room filled with chairs, pipes, and screens. It took Jenna a few seconds to process what she was seeing, but once it registered, her brain started thinking at a million miles an hour. Why on earth - or in space - were they being transferred to a dropship?

It didn't take much for a person from Engineering to recognize the mechanics behind it. Dropships had a very specific layout, one that Jenna could see even if she'd only lived in Engineering for seven years. Books came more in handy during her stay in the Skybox than she'd thought they would, she was the one responsible for disabling a security camera in solitary at just eleven years old, after all.

Jenna was jerked out of her thoughts as the guard pressured her into a seat and buckled her in. She wan't alone for long, prisoners were being brought int by the dozens. David Matthews - arrested for breaking and entering. Saylor Brown - stealing medical supplies. Jenna had to smother a smile as an unconscious Clarke Griffin - treason - was dragged in. It seemed that even the privileged weren't spared from the massive prison clean-out.

Jenna was so focused on Clarke that she missed seeing who the guard strapped in on her right, until:

"Jenna!"

"Octavia!" Jenna exclaimed in relief, turning as well as she could in the seat to see the black-haired girl next to her.

"Do you know what's going on?" Octavia looked around with wide eyes.

"No, I-"

"Get out of here, Jaha!" Every head on the ship whipped to the entrance at the loud shout from an unknown source. Wells Jaha, son of the Chancellor that had condemned most of them to death, was coming with them on their great adventure. He was going to be the first one targeted if they survived, his father had floated more then a fair number of the prisoners' parents.

There was no time to dwell on who else was in the dropship as the ship itself detached itself from the Ark with a loud shudder. Both girls gasped, grabbing their seats in shock. Several screens flickered to life around them. Jaha Senior's face filled the screen and spoke.

"Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now."

"Ugh." Jenna groaned throwing her head back. She'd just gotten away from Jaha and now she had to listen to him again? As if her trial wasn't enough. She looked around and yelled to the general vicinity: "Does anyone have a mute button?"

A series of "No," "I wish," and "Sorry"s were returned, along with laughter.

"Tough luck, Jens." Octavia smiled. The redhead glared at her playfully before half-heartedly returning her attention to the screen.

"You've been given a second chance," Digital Jaha continued, spouting off something about taking a second chance, using it to better all of mankind.

"I'm lost." Octavia turned back to Jenna. "You know what he's talking about.

Jenna looked at Octavia with raised eyebrows. The redhead was known for being a good listener when she wanted to, compassionate and unbiased in the worst circumstances. If she wanted to listen, and Jenna didn't want to listen to Jaha.

"Oi, David." Jenna kicked the blond teen seated to her left, grabbing his attention. "What's the dick saying?"

"Our 'esteemed' Chancellor," David replied, voice heavy with sarcasm, making air quotes every so often, "has decided to send us on an 'expedition.' AKA: early death. On the off chance we survive our 'expedition' we shall be 'forgiven' of our crimes."

Well that didn't sound too promising. Forgiving her of her crimes? Fat chance. Marcus Kane would put on a tutu and perform in the Unity Day pageant before that day came.

Jenna's stomach dropped sickeningly as the dropship suddenly plummeted. There were several loud crashes as the light flickered and people screamed.

"We're gonna die!" Octavia yelled in panic, gripping Jenna's had so tightly that it started to turn purple.

"Probably." Jenna said, thankfully not loud enough to carry over all the noise. They kept their hands locked together as more stomach-wrecking drops wracked the ship. Finally the ship slowed to what Jenna considered a survivable speed before crashing down entirely. Everyone sat frozen, hardly daring to breath, some looking down and patting their chests to ensure that they were, in fact, still living.

"Listen." Jenna glanced to the back of the dropship, seeing Monty Green - one of her few childhood friends. He spoke again. "No machine hum." Octavia squeezed Jenna's hand again, eyes filled with excitement.

"That's a first." Monty's every present companion, Jasper Jordan, remarked in wonder. There was another moment of bated silence before someone unclasped their belt, prompting the others to do the same. A flurry of restless movement began to get up and out.

"The outer door's on the lower level!"

Octavia keep close to Jenna as they followed the crowd down the ladder, yelling angrily when one of the more eager boys stepped on her hand. Jenna's feet touched down on level one to see a huge group loitering near the door. Someone in the front was keeping them back. Octavia paused on the ladder and looked at the man in shock.

"Bellamy?"

Octavia jumped off the ladder, pushing to the front. Jenna tailed behind her, she'd never met Bellamy, but she'd heard plenty about him from Octavia the previous year when they were roommates. Somehow she had pictured him shorter.

"Look how big you are," Bellamy said, a ridiculously large grin on his face as Octavia hugged him. Jenna watched with a small smile. Octavia definitely deserved some happiness after two years in the Skybox. Of course someone had to ruin the family moment. 

"Where's your wristband?" Clarke Griffin - blond, medic, and resident annoyance - demanded. The siblings separated.

"Do you mind?" Octavia said in annoyance, looking over her shoulder. "I haven't seen my brother in a year."

"No one has a brother!" a kid shouted from the back. Moe Tanner - know-it-all with no social filter - arrested for attacking a council member. Octavia glared in his general direction, Jenna could tell she was close to tackling him and decided to interject. They did not need to fight in a small enclosed space.

"I don't know, Moe." Jenna called without turning around. "You might have a few siblings yourself, given how much of Agriculture Station your mother knows... intimately."

A chorus of catcalls directed at Moe erupted. He couldn't deny the rumors because anyone from Agriculture knew they were true. His face was probably bright red, all the way up to his ears. Octavia shot Jenna a grateful look.

The group stopped harassing Moe when the door hissed open, releasing the pressure of a ship. Octavia took several slow steps out, a few people edged forward, watching her with anticipation. The black-haired girl jumped down off the dropship ramp, looking around in awe, before throwing her arms up and screaming to the sky:

"We're back, bitches!"


	2. Of Love. Of War.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ground.

Hugs. Euphoria. Put a bunch of death row kids in an open field, and you get a lot of laughter, and couples sneaking off behind trees thinking no one sees them.

Jenna didn't know everyone in the Skybox, all the people she'd originally known after they'd released her from solitary were dead. But she did know of everyone. There was a small group of boys, jokingly called themselves the posse every once in a while, that she was familiar with - the same boys that had caused the riot several months back.

As she pulled herself out of a conversation with Travis and glanced around the camp, her eyes lit up in excitement as she spotted her best friend of several years.

"Murphy!"

He hardly had time to turn around before she tackled him to the ground. Murphy groaned, the wind partially knocked out of him, then chuckled.

"Hey there, short stuff."

Jenna pushed herself up, frowning at the boy beneath her.

"I'm not that short."

"Yes, you are." Murphy shoved Jenna off of his chest, standing easily. "Because I'm short and you're shorter than me." He pulled the beanie off her head and ruffled her hair.

Jenna held in a sharp gasp as Murphy's fingers flicked the cut left from the guard. She succeeded in making no noise, succeeded in hiding a wince, but Murphy's hand came away, with red on the fingertips.

"Jenna," his voice held a warning.

"I'm fine." Jenna said evenly, pulling her beanie out of his clenched fist, replacing its former spot on her head.

"Sure you are," Murphy's sarcastic statement was followed by another attempt to grab for the beanie. Jenna thought frantically, attempting to find a way to stall, but she was saved by Mbege.

"Murphy!" He called, leading a large part of their group over.

"My boys!" Jenna yelled, jumping into the group behind Mbege with open arms. Murphy shook his head, never really one for physical contact, more of a careful handshake and even fist-bumb kind of guy.

From the center of the hug, Jenna could feel Murphy's eyes burning into her back, irritated because he knew her. Better than anyone knew her. He was certain there was something she wasn't telling him. She was bleeding for a reason and he wanted to know so he could beat up the bastard responsible, but he couldn't do that here, she wouldn't tell him in front of other people.

Jenna almost sighed in relief as Murphy seemed to drop their conversation about her maybe injured head to start a conversation with Mbege, she hated it when people tried to worry about her. In Jenna's opinion they had better things to do then worry about her, she could take care of herself after all, but Murphy's meaningful glare gave her no doubt the conversation would be resumed at a later point.

Jenna, once released from the group hug, walked in the front with Mbege and Murphy - hand clasped with the latter, listening to the former describe the first guard that had attempted to put him on the dropship.

"-he's trying to force my arm behind my back - like this," Mbege demonstrated the action. "And he can't do it because he's so weak," a couple of the boys behind her laughed. "He just-" Mbege cut himself off, his playful smile fading and hit Murphy's arm, nodding to the dropship where Clarke, Wells, and Jasper were standing.

Correction: where Wells was pushing Jasper away from Clarke.

"Hey!" Murphy strode forward, his hand tightening on Jenna's as he provoked the privileged pair. "Hands off him, he's with us." Wells turns, Jenna saw his immediately assess the potential damage - and possible bodily harm - that could be done here.

"Relax," Wells tried to placate Murphy. "We're just trying to figure out where we are."

"We're on the ground." Bellamy called, hearing Wells' words. "That not good enough for you?"

And just like that, everyone was drawn in. An argument against Wells was likely to be one hundred to one - or two depending on how generous Clarke was feeling that day. Either way, Wells was severely outnumbered. And the first thing he did was mention his dad.

Referring to Jaha as a father, not a good plan as he had personally floated half the population's parents. There was a small cheer when Octavia flipped off the sky in a demonstration to Wells' father.

Unfortunately, Jenna couldn't deny that they had a good point, Wells and Clarke, with 100 people thy did need food, and it was sound logic to send them all. She said as much to Murphy under her breath.

"Don't agree with the privileged jerks," he replied in the same tone, squeezing her hand.

"Of course." Jenna said from the corner of her mouth. "How ridiculous of me, thanks for the much-needed course-correction. Murphy nudged her gently with his shoulder, returning his attention to the conflict.

"I've got a better idea." Bellamy wore a triumphant smile. "You two go and find it for us. Let the privileged to the hard work for a change."

"You're not listening," Wells attempted to reason, but Bellamy was listening, just not to Wells. And Wells wasn't listening to the right people. Surrounded by ninety-six people that hated his guts and had no chain of command, he reverted to the old chain of command. He didn't seem to realize that the old chain of command was hated by all ninety-six people. Bellamy understood the people he was surrounded by and was on his way to becoming the leader.

"We all need to go!" Wells shouted, trying to be head over the cheers for Bellamy.

Murphy and Jenna shared a look that was both amused and annoyed. They knew each other well enough to know they were thinking the same thing: time for Wells to get off his high-horse - AKA: time for Murphy to kick Wells ass. Jenna released Murphy's hand and stepped back to watch the show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shorter chapter. Longer ones to come, promise.


End file.
